Olaudah Equiano

Mary Seacole (1805 - 1881)Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797): The Former Slave, Seaman & Writer: The Abolition of Slavery ProjectOlaudah Equiano, was a former enslaved African, seaman and merchant who wrote an autobiography depicting the horrors of slavery and lobbied Parliament for its abolition. In his biography, he records he was born in what is now Nigeria, kidnapped and sold into slavery as a child. He then endured the middle passage on a slave ship bound for the New World. After a short period of time in Barbados, Equiano was shipped to Virginia and put to work weeding grass and gathering stones. In 1757, he was bought by a naval captain (Captain Pascal) for about £40, who named him Gustavas Vassa. He served Pascal during naval campaigns in Canada and then in the Mediterranean. He came to London before returning to sea, working as an able seaman, steward and, once, as acting captain. In 1775, he travelled to the Caribbean and became involved in setting up a new plantation colony on the coast of Central America. Equiano knew that one of the most powerful arguments against slavery was his own life story.

AFRICAN RESISTANCE TO SLAVERYChattel slavery, as it existed, was the worst kind of human bondage. Africans fought against and resisted slavery in their (1470 - 1800) homeland, on the seas, and in America. There was continuous resistance against Europeans during every phase of the slave trade. Because the rebellions of the African slaves increased, the slave traders created laws designed to reduce African resistance. Much of the information about the resistance to slavery came from written documents kept by the European sailors. There is enough information, includling historical facts, examples of resistance, and dislike of the European slave trade, to establish that the enslavement of Africans was not accepted by African people. African leaders and those opposing the European slave trade, organized and assigned large groups to keep watch for slave ships traveling to the East and whose crews were well-known for kidnapping Africans on the coast.

Queen NzingaIn the sixteenth century, the Portugese position in the slave trade was threatened by England and France. As a result, the Portugese shifted their slave-trading activities to the Congo and South West Africa. Mistaking the title of the ruler (ngola) for the name of the country, the Portugese called the land of the Mbundu people Angola—the name by which it is still known today. Here, the Portugese encountered the brilliant and courageous Queen Nzinga, who was determined never to accept the Portugese conquest of her country. Her meeting with the Portugese governor, recorded by a Dutch artist, is legendary in the history of Africa's confrontations with Europe: Representing her brother, the ngola, Nzinga arrived at Luanda in royal splendor. Converting to Christianity for reasons more political than religious (primarily to forge links with the governor) she adopted the name Dona Anna de Souza. Subsequently, Nzinga formed an alliance with the Jaga.

Maharaja Dalip SinghI1843 after the violent upheavals in the Punjab caused by the death of Ranjit Singh, his only remaining son, the seven-year-old Dalip Singh, became Maharaja. After the Anglo-Sikh war and the annexation of the Punjab by the British in 1849, Dalip Singh was separated from his mother, Rani Jindan. She was regarded by the British as a dangerous influence on the young boy. He was given into the care of Dr John Login and they moved to Fategarh, a remote provincial town in north India. Removed from his cultural roots and living in a predominantly Christian household, Dalip Singh converted to Christianity. Soon afterwards, Lord Dalhousie gave him permission to travel to London. He arrived in 1854, quickly gaining a royal audience and an invitation to stay with the Royal Family at Osborne, where Queen Victoria sketched him playing with her children and Prince Albert photographed him. Later in life, as he became increasingly embittered about the loss of his kingdom, he reconverted to Sikhism.

Thomas Clarkson campaigner for abolition | Revealing HistoriesThomas Clarkson campaigner for abolition Leading anti-slavery activist Thomas Clarkson was a leading activist in Britain against the transatlantic slave trade. He helped found the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and was a main force in bringing about the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which legally ended British trade in enslaved Africans. Clarkson was born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England in 1760. In 1785, Cambridge University held an essay competition on the subject 'Is it right to make men slaves against their wills?'. 'A direct revelation from God ordering me to devote my life to abolishing the trade'. Clarkson contacted Granville Sharp, a known anti-slavery campaigner. Evidence of inhumanity of slavery Thomas Clarkson was responsible for collecting information to support the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Lectures in Manchester There was clearly a not insignificant black population in Manchester and the north west at the time. Dedication to the cause

AFRICAN REVOLT| Black Slave Revolt | Zanzibar Revolt"And then you saw the emergence also of men like Muhammad Al-Amin and Momadou Toure. Of course we had Nzinga and the Southern areas of Africa as well that was fighting its resistance against European invasion. All the way up until the 17th Century men like Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodiod and Umar Futi as well as Ahmed Lobo. And then we had the courageous wars, which took place in 1884 under the armies of Muhammad Ahmed, Ibn Abdullahi of the Sudan as well as Muhammad Abdullahi al Hassan of Somalia. And then we had in 1903 finally, the wars that took place between the Sokoto Empire. So the Africans did not acquiesce colonialism, nor did they acquiesce towards slavery, they fought at every point and in fact when the slaves were landing in the Western hemisphere in Bahia Brazil you saw the emergence of jihad movements. Drapetomania was a supposed mental illness described by American physician Samuel A. First, he had drastically underestimated the strength and will of the army facing him.

Princess Sophia Duleep SinghThings you may not know about Princess Sophia Duleep Singh Sophia had Indian, European and African ancestry. More Her father came from the Punjab in India and her mother the daughter of a German father and Abyssinian mother. Her mother had grown up in Cairo and spoke at first only Arabic Her father presented Queen Victoria with the famous Koh-i-noor diamond. The young deposed Maharaja Duleep Singh was sent to England at the age of 12. Sophia was given a house by the queen. In 1896 Princess Sophia was given the very grand, three-storey Faraday House by Queen Victoria along with an allowance of £200 for the upkeep of the house. She had keys to a Royal palace. Princess Sophia lived opposite Hampton Court Palace and was given a set of keys to the Royal gardens so she could walk her dogs there. The princess was seen as something of a fashion icon. In 1908 Sophia wore an outfit to a party held by the countess of Jersey, a dress of maize-coloured voile and a large straw hat.

History - British History in depth: William Wilberforce: The Real Abolitionist?Joseph CinqueJoseph was a rice farmer and trader, but he was enslaved for debt and sold to the nasty Spanish slaver Pedro Blanco, on Lomboko Island at the mouth of the Gallinas River , in April 1839. Cinque was then carried to Havana , where he was resold with 51 others, many of them Mendians, and shipped aboard the coasting schooner Amistad which was going to the Cuban sugar plantations near the port of Guanaja, Puerto Principe. On June 30, Cinque encouraged the slaves to revolt at sea, killing the captain and cook and taking prisoner their owners, two merchants named Ruiz and Montez. President Van Buren and Secretary of State John Forsyth, were sympathetic to the slaveholders' claims and pressured by the Spanish government, tried to remove the case from the courts and transport the Africans to Cuba . Cinque's heroic figure and commanding personality lent itself to the drama, and he was widely lionized as a symbol of the abolitionist cause. Sources The fullest account of Cinque is William A.